STORIES BY SPACES
ARCHITECTURAL DISSERTATION BY ANUBHAB DAS (160695021)
Sharda University School of Architecture and Planning 2016-2021
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I have received a great deal of support and guidance in the writing of this dissertation. I would like to thank my dissertation mentor, Ar. Neeti Thakur, whose knowledge was valuable in developing research objective and methodology. Your positive encouragement pushed me to refine my perspective and to introduce my research to a maximum standard. I would like to thank you for your patient support and for all the resources I have been given further to my research. I am highly great full to Prof. Shovan.K. Saha for his constant guidance and inspiration. Further on I want to thank, Ar. Oindrilla Chatterjee, Ar. Harshali Kumar, Ar. Shriparna Seal, Ar. Rahul Aeron, Ar. Anushree Choudhary, Ar. Divyam Baiswar and my dear friends Amit Kumar Singh, Anudeep Jain, Aman Srivastava, Abhishek Sanyal, Shristi Bagri for the constant support to write this dissertation.
EXPLORING NARRATIVE ARCHITECTURE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO BV DOSHI
‘Architects are natural storytellers – it’s a process that is inherently built into our creative process and when used properly, it’s one of the very best tools in our tool bag.’ - Bob Borson -
RESEARCH BACKGROUND
Abstract Architectural spaces has functioned as the prime medium to narrate stories of its surrounding , past , residents etc. for millennia. Narration is an ancient concept and not a neo feature of this contemporary era. Architectural spaces are always capable of narrating stories in its unique way. It is a also very powerful contrivance to portray religious, political power and democracy too. The intent of this research is to develop a fresh synthesis of understanding the intangible featured style of architecture that is NARRATIVE ARCHITECTURE, which will focus towards the origin of the narrative and the classification of the same. The classification will be supported by some brief examples to support and for better understanding of it. Furthermore the research will tend to investigate the prime elements of narrative architecture which helps any space to successfully narrate the hidden story in a spatial format.
Aim: The primary intention is to explore the potential of a space to successfully narrate a story or an event. This study further attempts to identify the “The elements of narrative architecture which have been used by different architects around the world.
Objectives: • • • •
To study the concept and components of Narrative architecture and its role in defining architectural narrative spaces. To understand the establishment of this intangible feature resulting in a major change in the identification of architectural spaces. To study the fundamental elements incorporated in spaces to bring out the essence of a narration. Exploring the works of different architects around the world who practices on the same fundamentals. (e.g.- Louis.I. Kahn, Daniel Libeskind, Whan Shu, Alvor Alto, Renzo Piano, Tadao Ando etc.)
Need Of Study: Throughout time , people have used visual elements to portray stories. A history of the past, an identity for the present, and a narration for the future are depicted in visual storytelling to compare and appreciate. Architecture is a form of visual storytelling that is ever-present. The built environment has the capacity to retain a place's past and convey the essence through space. Architecture being a historical timeline forms a symbolic and spatial relationship, between the past, present , and future. For visual storytelling to take place in the context of architecture, a multi-layer language must be created. To tell the story of a specific location, a spatial language is required. If a spatial vocabulary is developed, the stories of the people who inhabit or have inhabited a place, the cultural history of a site, and the evolution of uses, building materials, and technology may be told in the appropriate way.
Research Questions: • •
What are the fundamental elements pivotal in defining a spatial narration in architecture? Did BV Doshi incorporate the same elements to define spatial narration in his creations?
LITERATURE STUDY
Introduction Storytelling is as old as the hills. Even before the help of writing, universal myths were shaped by the oral tradition. From the Song lines of the Australian Aboriginals to the proto-myths of the Greeks, mankind has searched for answers to the mysteries of the universe, painting them on walls and encapsulating them in stories. Narratives that personify ethical or existential questions have profoundly shaped our understanding of space; these mythical tales and parables have the power to mediate between the spatial configuration of the universe, of heaven and hell, and the everyday world and its reality of survival, sustenance and territory. Within the framework of these spatial geometries, narratives can engage with the medium of space, and form the basis on which architecture can be given meaning. Narration shapes and simplifies events into a sequence that can stimulate the imagination, and with its understanding comes the possibility of the story being retold – verbally, pictorially or spatially. Though they may involve shifts of time, location and circumstance as the dynamics of a plot unfold, for the viewer or the reader, stories progress along a sequential trajectory. In architecture the linearity of the narrative function dissolves as the spatial dimension interferes with time. In architectural space coherent plot lines or prescribed experiential sequences are unusual. The narrative approach depends on a parallel code that adds depth to the basic architectural language. In a conventional narrative structure, events unfold in relation to a temporal meter, but in architecture the time element is always shifting in response to the immutability of the physical structure. While permanence should be celebrated as a particularly architectural quality, inevitably we should be curious about its opposite. The difference between a mere image and a work of art lies partly in its endurance – of existence but also of meaning. In architecture, that endurance is both positive and negative, depending on whether the public buys into it or not. The beginnings of architecture have been variously interpreted as the primitive hut or recognition that a cave can provide protection and shelter. By the time the cave or the hut had fully formed as concepts, they must have featured as anecdotal homes. Myths and religions alike narrate the origin of the world in terms of everyday phenomena: in light and dark, in landscape and animals, and in men with supernatural powers. Since architecture can be manipulated and interpreted through narrative, it follows that the architect can invest architecture with a proportion of narrative alongside a response to the context and the program of activities.
Origin The first trace of a narrative can probably be seen in the drawings of pre historic hunters and gatherers. Human psychology has the tendency to recreate a chain of events that have taken place in its immediate timeline, in this case on the basis of animal foot prints, broken twigs and flying hair remnants. These restored stories became crucial evidence for human life, for food exploration to risk avoidance. This ancient form of sign language most probably the earliest form of depiction of culture and was used as a memorization tool.
The Linking The connection between the various aspects of a built environment has its origins in narrative psychology. Narrative psychology depends on the presumption that individuals assemble their personality by recounting tales about themselves and what befalls them. According to narrative psychology the thinking, interpreting, imagining and decision making happens within narrative structures. In this sense human consciousness can be identified as a storytelling machine. Through narratives, stories, events and memories we feel connected to our environment which forms the key element in shaping our identity. Narratives give insight to where we come from, so we can have a better understanding of who we are and how we see our future. Thus the connection between the environment, the context and us individuals is formed. In New Zealand, for instance, among the Maori, structures don't just fill in as lodging for individuals, they in addition express the accounts of their precursors and foretells what's to come in future. These accounts are coordinated into the plans of divider boards and wooden models of the structure of the structure. The reason why narratives can be important to designers is that the world and identity are related. Linking is a very passive position, as it concerns an implied relation between individuals and their environment. Building an identity is a dynamic process that sometimes goes beyond principals and ethics. The example of Maori woodcarvings is very culture specific and relate to tradition and old buildings.
THE CLASSIFICATION OF NARRATIVE ARCHITECTURE. Binary Narrative The 'binary' is probably the first and most clear form of narration. This means investing an individual or 'situation' with a parallel personality – not a function-based one, but a trans-function – that is, a function of the mind, a transgression, a sublimation, a presence of the imagination that can 'heat up' the otherwise banal object. An perfect example will be the hypothesized design of a restaurant that honors, by decoration and cuisine, a remote location otherwise detached from our own: a Japanese restaurant with movable screes(shoji) and sliding doors (fusuma) separating the different zones along with tatami mat flooring and cushion seating bring about the complete essence of Japanese interior. While this treatment may be an attempt to construct an illusion, it often carries all its contrivance without pretense. No one expects to be trapped in, beyond the fun of the atmosphere. It is very rare, like sculpture, that a building pleases all; but many architects who strive to do just that would do well to expect some of the artist's bravado. Artists have sometimes taken on architecture with giant projections onto buildings, which became something of a fashion around the passing of the Millennium.
Herzog & de Meuron with artist Ai Weiwei: Beijing National Stadium, Beijing. When China won the bid to host the Olympics in 2008, it was an opportunity for the country to demonstrate its internationalism, modernity and fairness as expressed through the various building types necessary to house the various events. By now the Olympic Stadium by Herzog & de Meuron has become a postcard building that rivals the Eiffel Tower and Tower Bridge as a sign of unity and cooperation. Known as ‘the Bird’s Nest’, the building itself is so nest-like as to comply with a powerful binary narrative. Although the irregular horizontals of the outer framework related to Herzog & de Meuron’s experimental trajectory of textures and facades since their inception as a practice, the forming of this open lattice into structure and circulation reinforces the inherently nest-like ‘situation’ of the inside of the stadium. To date it is the most figurative of the practice’s works, and a powerful one at that. The erratic exterior structure exaggerates scale, making it bigger (colossal) and smaller (birdlike) simultaneously; the nest wraps and disguises the stadium inside so that this narrative completely camouflages the actual function to become an icon in its own right.
Beijing National Stadium, Beijing
Sequence Narrative While most art museums encourage visitors to travel reasonably freely from room to room, the curators of most temporary exhibits want to tell the story in an organized manner. They try to lead the observer from space to space, whether it's a linear sign of development or a sequence of thoughts. This articulation is of the 'sequence' form, which lay out spaces along a predetermined route connecting many 'situations' together, each of which has its own spatial coherence. English landscape gardens in spite of not being sequential all the time, were designed to stimulate a sense of appreciation through the materialisation of mythical occurrences and locations, such as Roman cascades or Greek temples, such as Rousham in Oxfordshire. Visiting it will lead us down the specified path, in which each of the instances are distanced from each other so as not to contaminate one another. There are many ways in which sequences unfold in urban scenarios, most common being the roadways and the pathways we choose to follow in the process of crossing the area.
Tadao Ando: The Chichu Art Museum, Naoshima Island, Japan. The Chichu Art Museum, designed by Japanese Architect, Tadao Ando, is an architectural space filled with energy and turbulence, yet on the surface appears silent and orderly. The structure is built primarily underground, using natural material and is said to be ‘rethinking the relationship between nature and people’ (Benesse Art Site Naoshima). The museum behaves as an all-encompassing experience that transcends the unification of architecture and the natural environment with the integration of this particular collection of art, each with their own significance of how we perceive and interact with nature. The space is a quintessential Ando design as it takes into account eastern and western concepts which builds into a universality that resonates with its visitors, regardless of background or culture. Ando’s decisions for the layout of the museum’s floorplan and pathways closely resembles a narrative structure. It works on a macro and micro level, where the experience of the outside forces combines with the actual structure to create a play that results in a unified experience (Sussman). Our innate need for storytelling, social connection, and aesthetic contemplation come to fruition in the structure and space. As visitors enter the museum, the silence and simplicity of the walls, and mixture of natural and dark shadows provide guidance throughout the space. In-between each gallery exists an intermediary space with skylights, wall openings, and courtyards that brings in the outside world. The courtyards expose the natural ground beneath it, in the form of green grass or carefully placed jagged rocks. The geometric concrete structure wraps itself around the ground which includes pathway to walk around and focus on these natural elements. This shifts the visitor’s attention to the ground, raising its significance, and dedicating a viewing that revolves around the ground, literally. Continuing through the multiple level floorplan and complex pathways can bring confusion but somehow still remains orderly (Willems). These intermediary spaces allow for contemplation of the recently experienced artwork, and projection of these ideas onto a space can be beneficial for clarity and greater synthesis. The cut outs in the land which allow for natural light exposure are clean geometric shapes, such as squares, rectangles and triangles. When seen from a bird’s eye view, it appears much like a playful graphic design poster, but instead of paper, it sits on top of uneven terrain. This juxtaposition of geometric and organic form demonstrates a certain polarity which is inherent in humans and nature, to be orderly and instinctive.
Different spaces in Chichu Museum
Biotopic Narrative Speaking of the values to be followed in city planning, Kevin Lynch said: ‘The form must be somewhat noncommittal, plastic to the purposes and perceptions of its citizens.’ This inevitably contributes to the desired impact of biotope narration. A biotope ('bio' along with topos, Greek for 'place') is a small, standardised ecosystem inhabited by a group of species, such as the bark of a tree that is home to a variety of species – lichens, fungi and insects – in a mutually beneficial micro-world. In architecture, 'biotope' implies an urban field that involves a range of roles and storylines that are mutually supportive yet separate, such as on a university campus or in an urban village. In the sense of narration, it captures an interlinked series of situations with their own intrinsic forces and dynamics. The area under study becomes a biotope narrative when the structure of narrative elements fuses with its structure of usable parts, like periodic sparks between two electrically charged planes. It will destabilise the physical existence of a territory, thereby causing it to be vulnerable to various interpretations. A paradigm of metropolitan environments, it describes the territory of several 'situations' that are nodally connected to a cohesive network. Without the need for structured organising devices, a biotopic plot tends to create a homogeneous condition of equal opportunities; at the same time, it demonstrates practical consistency and stimulates incongruity, shape and fiction.
Enric Miralles, Parc Diagonal Mar, Barcelona, Spain, 1997–2000. Reactivating the Gaudí tradition, this exuberant park successfully offsets the banal housing blocks that surround it. A marsh lake dominates one end and a Wonderland rose garden the other. Whipping loops of steel support giant vases covered in smashed ceramics. These ludic devices assert fantasy as opposed to the eco-complexity of nature. Sitting on the green in front of the gallery building, its collection of deliberately dumb planar components has the air of a Scout encampment. Canopies fixed to elevated beams can be extended diagonally like the flysheets of tents to provide protection from rain or sun. Their loose composition allows lots of crosspenetration with the trees and grassland around it; yet the violence of the red balances out the benign force of nature, and, in doing so, draws together the sense of occupancy of a building and the freedom associated with boundless landscapes. In this open framework, Nouvel lays out some competing activities. A centrally located bar services visitors, whether they are seated in the gazebos that define one edge of the pavilion, or are taking a break from a table tennis match.
Enric Miralles, Parc Diagonal Mar
THE PRIME ELEMENTS OF NARRATIVE ARCHITECTURE. Structuralism Narratives play a job in introducing a specific structure within the way we perceive things. the target of structuring, of combing separate parts into a full, is geared more at designers or writers. Designing isn't an operation, but narratives will function a central plot around which everything else is framed or wrapped. Whilst speaking in narratives, architects will define the programme and also the needs of the look challenge to produce a organic structure to the processes and interactions they might must house. so as for these planners to try to so, they have to develop and use narratives that direct the development, explain what the building is and what it's not, help specify the programme and describe the components of the planning steps. during this way, storytelling is that the method or 'action' of selecting, arranging and rendering narrative content that features a particular influence on the audience. Structuring is mainly useful for the designer himself, since it structures the design method, as a sort of umbrella, a leading concept from which design decisions can be taken.
Materialism From the moment we are born, we interact with the material world, we learn what it is intuitively, we make it physically, we form it emotionally, we build meanings, ingest objects and meanings together, and even give others those objects, and maybe even those meanings. Other worldly materials are perceived more readily compared to the lightness and clarity of air and light, since they have more complex elements of form, smell and colour. Textural impressions are judged differently, such as rough and smooth (brick and glass), cold and warmth (concrete and wood), rigid and gentle (marble and canvas), weight and lightness (metal and bamboo). The experiences also include different odours, such as the natural and artificial smells of raw wood and plywood. Colours- 'which assume a significant function in human feelings, may comprise man's most punctual images' fluctuate by tone, and impressions of various materials can be watched as well which brings us to the conclusion it is materials that shape an essential part of the world. Actually, the sensory input generated by the human body's sensory organs is a primary source of human knowledge: not a barrier, but a gateway to the universe. Human beings often have ideas, feelings, emotions, creativity, imagination and spirit, in addition to material obtained by the human body. Material starts from the psyche, which permits 'people to work out, to the disappearing point, the longing for comprehension and the hunger for wonderment at their own temperament that Aristotle perceived as so unmistakably human'. By recognizing common and human variables of material, people utilize various materials in the plan of design.
Form & Details The expression " architectural form and details" allude to both bigger manufactured components and more modest subtleties, on the outside and the inside of any fabricated structure. These components change in scale, style, materiality, physical unmistakable quality, and progressive significance from structure to structure. A space's 'personality' is usually created through an amassing of parts and pieces, joined with the observer's past circumstances and memories. These markers can be incorporated, rejected, and altered to accomplish an uncertain, dubious feeling of 'persona'. These structural components incorporate formal components of enormous scope (rooftop structure, detail of the facade, number of peaks), small components of scope (shades, ornamentation, window styles) and even the continuity of home stylization itself. There are boundless stages of these component and their essence in a space - each outcome passes on an alternate personality of its client.
Honestly, there can never be a 1:1 interpretation of component to ID, yet as sorts of models unfurl, individuals normally partner certain components with specific attributes. As it were, one can see these components as a kind of condition, where the varieties lead to bigger models of review and pondering a space. A characteristic capacity of the human cerebrum; that it doles out human characteristics and articulations to non-living items. One can follow this inclination back to Vitruvius, who allotted human or perfect qualities to every one of the three traditional requests. He explicitly expresses in his Ten book of architecture that the Doric column is an example of “proportion, soundness, and attractiveness of the male body”, while the Corinthian column “imitates the slenderness of a young girl”.
INTO THE WORLD OF NARRATIVE Jewish Museum (Berlin, Germany 2001)
Introducing The Museum of memories The Jewish Museum Berlin, which was opened to the public in 1999, portrays the historical, political and cultural past of Jews from the 4th century to the present in Germany. The museum specifically discusses and incorporates the Holocaust 's implications. The new design, conceived in 1988, a year before the Berlin wall fell, was based on three conceptions that the shaped the museum’s establishment. the difficulty of understanding the historical backdrop of Berlin without understanding the tremendous scholarly, monetary and social commitment made by the residents of Berlin. Second, the need to incorporate truly and profoundly the significance of the Holocaust into the awareness and memory of the city of Berlin. Third, can the historical backdrop of Berlin and Europe have a human future by only the affirmation and incorporation of the eradication and absence of Jewish life in Berlin.
The First Stepping Stone The international competition jury awarded first prize to the design submitted by Daniel Libeskind just a few months before the Berlin Wall collapsed in the summer of 1989. “The official name of the project is The ‘JEWISH MUSEUM’, but I have called it ‘BETWEEN THE LINES’ because for me it is about two line of thinking, organization , and relationship. One is a straight line , but broken into many fragments; the other is a torturous line , but counting indefinitely.” -Daniel Libeskind
Jewish Museum, Berlin
The Distorted Star of David The distinctive form of the museum extension designed by Libeskind along with its dramatic façade are not exempted from the same historical and poetic agendas that determined and enhanced the interior spaces. Although the architect claims that the footprint of the building was created by segmenting and exploding the Star of David overlaid on Berlin 's plan, this association isn't exceptionally apparent and is hard to back up. It is a lot simpler however to compare with Libeskind's prior work, specifically the drawings he had created during the 80s-and the association with Bernard Tschumi and his "Engineering of Disjunction," or disconnected custom. There is no doubt that, apart from Libeskind's own personal architectural preconceptions, there is another aspect that relates to the iconic shape that was finally realized. One, distinct project that blooms up, on an aesthetic level at least, is Michael Heizer’s Rift, which happen to be a zigzag shaped trench dug out in the desert at Jean Dry Lake , Nevada in 1968. It is intriguing to estimate the part of Heizer's venture in its connection entire discourse of architecture during 1968, when the foundations of purported "deconstructive" architects started to grab hold explicitly with respect to Bernard Tschumi and the beginnings of his proposal on "architecture and disjunction."
The distortion of the Star of David and superimposing on the plan of the museum
The Wrapped Monolith The augmentation of the museum is one of a few projects that started the unique strategy of metallic finishes. The Berlin Jewish Museum is clad in zinc, while the Guggenheim Museum of Frank. O.Gehry in Bilbao, which was completed just two years before Libeskind, is clad in titanium. While these two projects are naturally contrasted with their architectural skins, Libeskind makes a note to discern the difference between them, starting with the fact that he “never meant it as a shiny building, like Bilbao but something that will recede in its figure” and that the decision to utilize a non-oxidizes zinc covering, as opposed to titanium, permits the zinc to age, change tone and inevitably highlight the cut windows that are sliced through the structure's surface. The fact that each of these buildings were formally built as landmark buildings may prove to be the underlying reason that they are also monoliths, as well as the fact that both are museums, usually allowing little or no natural light into the interior to regulate the amount of light in the exhibition spaces for the curators.
The whole facade is covered with non-oxide zinc sheet
The Facade As A Map One of the most notable and recognizable aspects regarding the facade of the museum extension are the strip windows that slash through the zinc panels , projecting dramatic display of light onto the walls of light onto the walls of the building’s interior and allowing fleeting glimpses of the city as one looks moves through the exhibition spaces . The design and placement of these slashes appear to be random at first glance, but as is the case with almost everything in Libeskind’s work, their arrangement , too, has a story to tell. The architect desired to treat the skin of the structure as a solid, appeared chart of the city's set of experiences by perceiving the historicism that is as yet present in this venture. They are produced by first found the road locations of extraordinary figures in Berlin Jewish history. The previous homes of Heinrich von Kleist, Heinrich Heine, Mies van der Rohe, Rahel Varnhagen, Walter Benjamin and Arnold Schonberg were situated there. By then associating these addresses through lines that divide the site, and anticipating those lines onto the structure's skin, the evidently self-assertive fracture of the structure's veneer is in actuality a guide of Jewish history inside Berlin.
Connecting line on the map of Berlin and transferring it on to facade .
Facade Construction The design of the faรงade of the building may be one of the most mind-boggling facades of its time. On site, the zinc cladding was cold-formed and soldered in place using a standing seam joint using vertical paneling. The work on this project was launched by Rheinzink, now a prominent faรงade and roof consulting firm. In most cases, when the faรงade is punctured, the zinc panels simply tick up past the penetrations to maintain the smooth and elegant appearance of the exterior of the building as well as to create a shadow line and strengthen the severity of the sliced windows. The museum walls structure the whole structure, eliminating the requirement for removing the need for columns or internal load bearing walls and empowering a barrier free design to be established. To assemble the casing, steel strengthened cement was projected set up. Coordination between the faรงade cutting and the necessity for fundamental decency must be recognized as the cuts were essentially given a part as voids in the hidden poring of the dividers of the strong framework. This also required exceptional procedures in pouring concrete as each entire divider must be poured set up similarly as to absolutely encase the window moulds on the chief endeavor and to guarantee that the crisp points delivered would not chip or break as the structures were taken out.
Then there is a mullion device that keeps in place the glazing that fills the slices that are sandwiched between the concrete and the zinc panels. At some point of the glazing, any of the various components might be obvious, as the outside of the structure is in consistent motion of stripping endlessly and uncovering its internal working to the external world.
Facade Distortion The final aspect of the façade to be addressed is the zinc panel form that forms the skin of the house. In spite of the fact that the creases between the boards run completely vertical and corresponding to each other the level creases are slanted. It creates a fantasy that the outside divider isn't really opposite to the ground, yet rather is inclined out of the plane. The deception is particularly powerful when one takes a gander at the convergence of the equal creases and the flat rooftop edge. This contortion works comparatively to the manner in which Libeskind bewilders the inhabitant of the Gardens of Exile and Emigration – through slanted line and the utilization of optical deception. Such a subtleties conjures a "distinctive architecture" and one again the works of Architect Bernard Tschumi discover significance in this venture. Tschumi's plan for Colombia University's Alfred Lerner Hall additionally finished in 1999 utilizes a fundamentally similar method in its facade. Through inclining different components that include the glass glazing, Tschumi planed an optical fantasy very like the one planned by Libeskind – where one at this point don't comprehend what falsehoods corresponding to the ground yet includes the component of profundity , as should be obvious through the skin of the structure and inti dissemination and inside spaces. Again crafted by these two contemporary designers shows up adroitly interlaced through thought of contortion and detachment. “The Jewish museum is based on the invisible features whose traces constitute the geometry of the building”. – Daniel Libeskind
Distortion of facade
Shifting Towards Indian Context The age old architecture of India has been highly celebrated in past and perceived all over world for its amazing standards of t water preservation in the design of temples as the famous step well called baoli commonly found in district of Rajasthan and Ahmedabad along with the principals of vastu purpush madala for building design, different standards of designing for the indigenous vernacular architecture and furthermore the unanimous medium of Indian design to portray a story with the help of spaces in different parts of India. This magnificence of India crumbled down after India lost its political holdings in the hands of Muslim and British rulers. Muslim rulers were extremely traditionalist toward their own religion and annihilated countless sanctuaries and were determined to encourage Islamic design while Britishers were advancing their own colonial architecture. These guidelines scarcely fretted the indigenous Indian individuals and their primary target was to manage India and fully utilize assets of India. The local customary standards of architecture have completely obliterated on the grounds that individuals engaged with these professions were either constrained or voluntarily embraced those principles of design set by those rulers. A considerable lot of these talented workers practicing Indian architecture have moved to other professions or take on newer technologically advanced strategies for development brought by these rulers. This era could be named as Dark Age for Indian Architecture. After Independence of India in 1947, numerous architects have gone ahead with continuing the design principals having it’s foundation in the colonial designs or present day trend of western architecture. In spite of that many young Indian entrepreneurs have begun thinking back of the greatness of old Indian engineering and these revolutionary architects were B.V.Doshi, Charles Correa, Raj Rewal and so forth. Each of these architects have gained inspiration from these historical design principals of Indian architecture and have proudly flaunted these philosophies in their creations. B.V.Doshi collaborated with two of the world 's great master architects, Le Corbusier and Louis I. Kahn, and from these two architects he aspired to the ideals of modernism. Subsequent to returning back to India, He had researched endlessly into the ideals the old Indian architecture through which he has built up an intriguing way of architecture to fuse tangible and the intangible features of architecture (i.e. functionality and spatial narration) with principles of modernism. This combination could be seen in practically the entirety of his works.
The Journey Of The Storyteller. Doshi, born in Pune, Maharashtra, began his architectural journey as a student at the esteemed Sir J.J School of Architecture in Mumbai in the late 1940s. Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi practiced at Le Corbusier's office in Paris somewhere between 1951 and 1954 and later took charge of the supervision of Le Corbusier's works in Chandigarh (Punjab) and Ahmedabad (Gujarat). In 1955, on his return from Paris to India and while still overseeing the Indian projects of Le Corbusier, he founded his own office, VastuShilpa (Environment Design) in Ahmedabad. From that point forward, he has referred to as not only a designer but as well as an educationalist – he was the founding director of the city’s famous School of Architecture from 1962 to 1972, and of the School of Planning from 1972 to 1979 located at Ahmedabad as well. In the year 2018, he was granted The Pritzker Architecture Prize for "significant contributions to humanity and the built environment. He additionally worked intimately with Louis Kahn when Kahn planned the grounds of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. This was the a very crucial part of his architectural journey while he understood the philosophies of Kahn and the hidden meaning of the spatial story telling format.
“Combining certain enduring values of modern architecture with research into the substructure of Indian traditions” has been the pride of the great architect. With the passing of time, he created his own architectural language by establishing certain design principles that were characteristic to India's atmosphere and conditions. Each and every one of his projects, e it IIM Bangalore, L D Indology Institute,
CEPT Campus and even his own house have the perfect balance and essence of scale, illumination and proportion along with the most unique capability of narrating a spatial story through the space itselfa trademark of the incredible architect B.V. Doshi.
Doshi’s Conceptualization and Stories The tale of Doshi is a blend of fantastical fiction, technical expertise and events' empirical accounts. "Along with the events on the construction site, it combines hallucination, dream and mythology to explain the architectural development not just in "essentialist,' just so' words," but also from "provisional,' as if' perspectives. The accounts of his architectural career deliver the collective or societal approach of architecture – at the Gufa, the architectural plan, construction and adornment met up in a demonstration of partnership, all regarding a more profound comprehension of what it may intend to make, to arrange or to offer shape to things – a demonstration of cooperation to be proceeded through the building's utilization. Doshi's design concepts aren’t solipsistic, yet appeals to be continued in a like manner. The history of architecture has many patrons who have all significantly contributed to make it possible. Doshi has portrayed himself in different characters in his narrations. He is seen depicting himself as the storyteller, the writer and then even at times the “empirical reader”, who acquires legends and stories to put resources into them or expound from them his own fictions in his creation of both the tangible and the intangible aspects of a space. The tales show the demonstration of making itself as occurring in the subjunctive mode, in that they don't so much clarify or depict something that happens freely from them as enact that incident.
INSIDE THE GREAT MIND AMDAVAD NI GUFA (Ahmedabad, India 1995)
The Revelation The Revelation is the story behind the project titled the Husain-Doshi Gufa (1992–95), located in Ahmedabad. Indian painter M. F. Husain and Doshi collaborated to perceive how to challenge one another, and how a combination of art and architecture could help address and decipher one another. Due to its shape, which resembled a subterranean cave (cave translates to Gufa), the resultant underground art gallery comprising of multiple linked domes and internal columns resembling trees was titled Amdavad ni Gufa. Through the fabricated structure, the architect tested the skills of the artist who couldn't balance his compositions on the curvilinear walls and was thus compelled to utilize the two walls and roof as his canvas. The Revelation assembles the wide scope of wellsprings of motivation for the Gufa. Via a mixture of digital and conventional methods, it combines structured references with a description of the way the Gufa was constructed. As per the story, after quite a few severed endeavours to successfully discover a shape meant for the Gufa, Doshi had to visit the site looking for a sign. On that night, he had a dream of the body of a huge agonizing structure which appeared before him, similar to the legendary turtle named Kurma, which was the second symbol of the Hindu god Vishnu, and a preserver of astronomical system. In contrast to an ordinary turtle, the one which appeared in Doshi's dream was long and had two giant mouths, each located at one end, interconnected with shells of various shapes and sizes. The turtle scrutinized Doshi's methods to deal with the design, and helped him to remember the revelations made by Giulio Romano and other people, which they made during the post-Renaissance and Baroque period.
Kurma accentuated how the meaning of form and space were constantly being broken up in 3-D, and how the sky was becoming important for the interior space. He discussed optical illusions and how they are basic to cause us to understand that the space and structure that we see are important for the boundless, and subsequently immortal and fanciful. In order to achieve a limitless integration of structure and space in a way which was similar to a living organism, the tortoise urged Kurma to think beyond the practical. Kurma’s advice to Doshi was- “In short, what I want you to do, is start afresh, forget that you are an architect and design this building using your innermost sensibility. Become and be part of the process rather than an outsider.” The story depicts how, from representations of caverns and different articles copying the structure that Doshi had found in his fantasy, developed a progression of hand shaped thermocol and earth models. This required re-examining standard development strategies and procedures. Doshi and Husain picked ferrocement technology, with a structure of extremely light steel reinforcement enclosed by chicken wiremesh work secured by a rich mortar blend of concrete and sand, for which no establishments were required. To improve the cavern like sentiment of the gallery, the forms of the site were held, as opposed to being levelled, with a thin floor slab of concrete just poured over them.
Introducing the Glocal Project This building is located in the Ahmedabad Campus of CEPT and is considered one of the best projects by B.V. Doshi. The project was finalised between 1992 and 1995. The key feature of the construction is the exhibition gallery showing the painting by M.F. Hussain. Hussain. These paintings belong to Palaeolithic art, and the art of the new ice age is Palaeolithic art. This type of art emerged between 1400 B.C and 13500 B.C. The idea of this building depends on establishing climate of cavern and creates a sensation of Palaeolithic age inside when early man lives in cavern while drawing and painting on walls. To express
the feeling of a cave, Doshi has depressed the entire structure with only the exterior of the dome visible. This depression also helped in reducing the heat gain of the building in the brutal atmosphere hot semidry area of Ahmedabad.
The First Stepping Stone Amdavad ni Gufa is a recent addition to the campus (1990s), and one that significantly departs from the earlier designs influenced by Corbu / Kahn. Made by locals as ferrocement shells covered with porcelain tiles, the gallery animates the Pritzker Prize, in Doshi 's words, "the mysteries of light and memories." Furthermore, "Challenges between an artist and an architect give birth to the most unexpected. Searching the uncommon meant raising fundamental questions – what is the meaning of function, space and technology – amidst structure and form."
The Gufa There are two primary inspirations behind the domical form of this gufa, one being the story of the mythological turtle, Kurma and the other being the Buddhist stupa. The entire structure is a concrete shell along with a layer of vermiculate followed a mosaic surface created by using small chips of broken china. This mosaic treatment has not one but two significance- one being the resemblance to the Grinar Jain temple Temples and the other being the high reflectivity supporting lesser heat production inside the structure. The beautiful skylights provided in the shell have been oriented with such delicacy and precision that it creates a sensational impact of light inside the cavern, furthermore featuring the artistic expression. In order to create an artistic feeling of the project from outside, the domes are aligned in different directions with different heights and skylights with different domes aligned in different directions. For the perfect fluidity essential for the painter’s exhibition all the structural components i.e walls columns etc have been sculpted with an approach to establish fluidity as the primary essence of the Gufa.
Framing The Gufa One interview has captured the great architect claiming that “The Gufa design was also based on similar intentions of energy efficiency- but saw the relevance of use of computer technology due to Gufa’s complex design. We couldn't use regular masons so we used tribal people from the neighbouring villages. Structurally, it was a challenge to design the configuration between the horizontal curved surfaces and the inclined vertical supports where the configuration changed. Challenges were that of structure, technical issues and unfamiliarity of forms, space and light”. Hence, we understand from these statements that the form of the project is a reflection of its functional utility, in this case the dramatic display of light reflecting the artistic function through fluidity. Doshi in his creation of the design did not stick to only the basic principles and methodology of design but applied the knowledge he received from exploring ancient Indian architecture such as Ajanta Caves, Buddhist stupa principles along with adopting the latest construction technology to create this masterpiece we see today called the Amdavad ni Gufa.
The Hussain-Doshi Gufa
Plan of the Gufa
Interior of the Gufa
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY (NIFT), (Delhi, India 1986)
The Tale of the Sacred Spring The account of the Sacred Spring describes the resistance among truth and deception by creating a genuine lie, or a simulated real-life condition. It does as such so as to move the accentuation from any one, to permit rather for the "acknowledgment of the inconceivability of choosing" between the, at least two allencompassing, for the "non-acknowledgment of any need to choose." The tale's job is to battle that fiction, development and creative mind are not deceptions but rather methods of achieving a more extravagant reality. Similar to authentic fiction, a classification that motivates essayists to investigate "frameworks of knowing" all the more profoundly through "innovative comprehension," the story's wonderful fiction takes into account the organizing of over a significant time span to be reconceived and reexperienced. This helps to outline "better alternatives to being on the world." The central courtyard of NIFT bounded on all sides by the prime buildings included in the complex, was expected to recreate the sentiment of a conventional square and cultivate a feeling of socialization. Doshi considered the environment like a bazaar, its dramatic component elevated by events, unconstrained and otherwise, of students and guests. Examining a conceptual design of the courtyard with one intern working in his studio, Doshi understood that she was unable to envision the space as dramatic, mystical and practically sacrosanct. He revealed to her that sometime in the past the site had highlighted a lovely village with an exquisite centrally located sacred pond. Being the only source of water in all vicinity, it became a place of worship and pilgrimage as it was discovered only after digging very deeply. Individuals accumulated there to make merry by singing dancing as well as choosing their partners in the future. Stages and steps were gradually created around this magical lake to encourage ceremonies and other voluntary activities. Step by step many elegant houses sprung up around this area. It was then that the archaeological authorities procured the site and gave it to the Fashion Institute, requesting that they protect whatever they could of its sacrality, and furthermore to "add a present-day dimension to it." Thus, that intern was forced to enter the realm of fiction and fantasy; the tale of Doshi meant she no longer found herself interested in free formalism. During the inauguration ceremony of the building, numerous individuals inquired Doshi if the spring water were holy and, assuming this is the case, regardless of whether this should be made all the more openly known. A sense of the past was invoked in the plot, which could then be recreated by architecture. The courtyard, water features and steps, in fact, allude to a past that didn’t exist. Doshi's, however, was a romantic history, a vision that could be materialised to bring about a sense of the past. It was not only the intern for whom a mysterious sense was generated; in their engagement with it, the synthetic construct of the narration and construction ignited the imagination of a much broader audience.
Introducing the Mystic Step-Well This project was developed by the architects Stein, Doshi and Bhalla. These three individuals worked together, but the NIFT design was considered to be the Doshi Project. The project was completed in 1986 and the area of the site is around 3 acres. The project is situated in New Delhi's Hauz Khas.
The First Stepping Stone Soon after the completion of the Amdavad-Ni Gufa, the director of the NIFT Delhi Rathi Jha visited the NID and on keen interest she visited the Gufa. Later her discussion with the chairperson they assigned Doshi as the chief architect for the campus design for the National Institute Of Fashion Technology. Doshi understood the context and environment towards the campus very well and proceeded with the project with his trademark way of spatial narration. Doshi’s concept of the building revolves around form-imagery perception thus providing building with roots, life and history. The NIFT campus becomes a theatre, the scene for unfolding drama of day to day
daily life. For central kund like court, wide casually aligned steps, water-channels, green areas, overlooking terraces and bridges emerge as elements of space making to recreate for fashion and design. Not long after the finish of the Amdavad-Ni Gufa, the head of the NIFT Delhi Rathi Jha visited the NID and on distinct fascination visited the Gufa. Highly impressed, later on while conversing with the administrator they assigned B.V Doshi as the principal architect of the National Institute Of Fashion Technology campus. Doshi comprehended the specific circumstance and climate towards the grounds quite well and continued with the undertaking with his brand name method of narration. Doshi's building concept spins around structure symbolism observation subsequently furnishing working with roots, life and history. The NIFT grounds turns into a theatre, the scene for unfurling show of everyday day by day life. For the central kund like court, wide casually adjusted steps, water-channels, green regions, overlooking porches and bridges develop as components of space designing to reproduce for design and fashion.
The Campus The complex is supposed to act as recourse centre consisting of library of an Indian and Western garment and textile collection, a laboratory and design studios, not only used for the industry, but as an example to general public, as well exporters showrooms, textile manufacturer’s showrooms and outlet for sale of cloth and textile. The criteria were very detailed and the area of the site was very small, so almost the entire site was occupied except for 6 m of setback. In middle aspiration, Doshi built stepped court and water channel from step well (baoli) of Ahmedabad, which in ancient Indian architecture is considered a water conservation. This water channel is very narrow and broad, providing direction to the main building entrance. Fashion needs very changing demand with respect to time, Doshi has created various display galleries, low and high platforms, areas for formal and casual activities and court fulfils all need of the functions of buildings. The two courts are main feature of building and occasionally act as interactive space, steps of the courts act as sitting space. The complex is intended to serve as a resource centre consisting of an Indian and Western clothing and textile collection library, a laboratory and design studios not only used for industry, but also as an example to the general public, as well as showrooms for exporters, showrooms for textile producers and fabric and textile distribution outlets. The prerequisites were extremely thorough and site zone was less, so nearly the entire site has been involved aside from 6 m set back. In middle aspiration, Doshi built stepped court and water channel from step well (baoli) of Ahmedabad, which in ancient Indian architecture is viewed as a water preservation technique. This water channel is exceptionally thin and long providing guidance to arrive at the main entrance of the building. The world of fashion demands exceptionally quick-change of interest with respect to time. Keeping this psychology in mind Doshi has made different showcase exhibitions, low and high stages, territories for formal and casual events and thus the court satisfies all functional requirements of the buildings. The two courts are primary elements of the building and occasionally serve as an intuitive space while the steps of the courts go about as sitting space.
Framing The Campus The Building facade demonstrates innovation by utilizing glass and furthermore dissemination on upper floor plan in such a unique way so as to to have a view of the courts along with the bridge connecting the two courts establishing a sentiment of solidarity in the entire structure. As indicated by his idea he alluded three fundamental terms which are Kund, Indian Bazar and Step-well. He utilized those terms in oral narrating as well as portrayed in his bound together style. Step-well: The steps leading to water body surrounded by platforms and galleries. Indian Bazar: The idea of introverted Indian bazar relating to the theatrical quality of fashion and traditional chowk or mohalla to faster a sense of community. Kund: The main dominant feature in the formation of Institute design which guides the way to the campus. It can be therefore be inferred that from ancient architectural narrative, Doshi derived the concept of court, but he adapted his vocabulary to building functions. Contrary to his theory of sustainability, he used too much glass on the building façade, but it may be appropriate to demonstrate modernity.
Plan of the campus
View of the campus
Unfolding the Mystery (Conclusion)
“The dominance of the eyes and the suppression of the other senses tends to push us into detachment, isolation and exteriority” and “Modernist design at large has housed the intellect and the eye, but has left the body and the other senses, as well as our memories, imagination and dreams homeless.” -Juhani Pallasmaa The narration experienced through architecture combined with one’s own imagination and understanding remains embedded in one’s memories throughout their life. People, thus tend to give life or a false sense of reality to every object they interact with in their environment both animate and inanimate with unconscious side of their brain trying to connect dots through memories ingrained throughout one’s life. Art is perhaps the most suitable and closest experience to this form of understanding which has been practiced as long as history. An appropriate example would be the famous painting called “Beech Forest” by the great artist Gustav Kimt. Kimt captures the attention of the observer through his master strokes and carefully applied techniques which bring out the lively narration of the scenery. He seems to have breathed life into it as seems to hit those beautiful emotions and memories experienced by an individual such as the crushing of dry leaves, soft breeze of the sea and the gurgling of sae waves. Just like these two-dimensional paintings architecture in its three-dimensional form connects to its audience in its own unique way. It creates a platform for the mind and senses of the visitors to play its part to understand and merge into the story silently expressed by the space throughout its time. F.L Wright’s Falling Waters and Alvar Alto’s Summerhouse are two excellent examples of this form of seminal architecture invoking feelings in their users and observers. The main aim behind this extensive research in the field of narrative architecture is to create a fresh synthesis and understanding between what was, what is and what will be the emotions and experiences of an individual in a space with the help of the intangible features and the prime elements of the same that successfully help in narrating a story. The fundamental elements thus derived namely Materialism, Structuralism and Form & Details form an intrinsic part of any design as can be seen clearly though this research. Coming to the Indian context, the great architect B.V Doshi has also kept these three principals intact while playing with all the other ones and successfully blended them together in a harmonious fashion for the observer or the user to be awed, inspired and even forced to think and even believe strongly in the thought process of the architect which can be more predominantly seen in NIFT Delhi where the entire mass of people visiting the campus were awed to this extent that they truly believed in the story of the sacred spring convinced of its sacred powers and unusual abilities.
RESEARCH SURVEY
“Ahmedabad Ni Gufa is a beautiful underground gallery. The fluidity of the design gives a sense of calmness. It had various nooks and is a popular location for photography by students on the campus as well as outside. The windows on the roof let light in. The bright paintings on the cave walls livened up the space. I liked the organicity of the form and how it blends with its surroundings. The interiors are bold while the exterior is light and subtle.” - Anushree Choudhary, Architect
“Amdavad ki Gufa or Doshi Hussain Gufa is a perfect combination of art and architecture. The name was given by M.F. Hussain. It’s a perfect hangout place with friends’ colleagues or both. I was amazed by its design, the technique used behind the construction of Gufa was completely out of the box at that time. The spaces are so beautiful designed that each and every space is different and unique but some or the other ways they are co-relating. The way in which light enters inside is same as the spot light for a painting works. I haven’t seen such a beautiful example of brutalist style. It doesn’t make you feel like you are in a closed space. It orders to break the monotony, walls of the Gufa was painted by Hussain himself. The place understands the user itself and have various things to offer.” - Rahul Aeron, Architect
“It is an interesting space created by fluid forms to display art. The tree columns are irregular and at varied angles. The way the light enters is very theatrical. But in ends very quickly. You enter with a lot of expectations but the whole tour ends within a minute. The whole experience is sort of surreal as the interiors are done in a tribal way. The painted ceiling and the forest like columns grab your attention” - Vaani Dua, Associate Professor
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